Just hearing the words "background showcase" without seeing what it means is very confusing. In short it makes the Artwork Showcase and Screenshot Showcase transparent so you can see the background you have applied. It doesn't really make them transparent, they are just perfectly cropped parts of the background added in post. Here is an example of what it will look like after completion: Might seem difficult but it is shockingly easy. Background used is Tiffany Maye.

This process does not work well on all backgrounds though, picking the right one is the first and is possibly the most important step. Since this focuses on the showcases which are located in the center you have to get something with content located there. Below are two backgrounds, a bad background is on the left and a good one on the right.You do not want to end up with completely black sections, sometimes it is inevitably but you want to minimize it as much as possible.

Note: To use two showcases at once you will be need to be level 20 or above, if you are below this you might want to skip most of the guide.

Using Steam.Design

Automatic Cropping

Thanks to TrueCarry the process of obtaining all the shots needed for the showcase is now automated. You can check out the Video Guide,

(made by the wonderful SibunA) or keep reading. It is simple enough to do, first just go to https://steam.design/ and it will load up an example Steam profile page. To change what image is in the background simply login with your Steam account in the top right and it will load all the backgrounds in your inventory. You can also use a url if you so choose, simply go to the market or inventory page for the background and click View Full Size and copy and paste that url into the custom url bar. Once the background is selected, it will automatically set the image size to Long Mode. Learn how to upload Long Images here. You can change the size of the showcases by grabbing the bottom of the largest image. After that is all done press the Download ZIP and it will crop the background, pack it up in a .zip file and download at once. Quick, simple, and effective.

Uploading to the artwork showcase

I say the Artwork Showcase is the best one to use at the top as it is so easy to use. To use the showcase you will need to have at least one piece of artwork uploaded. To do this, go to this link. Once there give the piece a name (I recommend "Welcome to my profile", or something similar), upload a file, you do not need a description, select public, check the bottom box and upload. Repeat this three more times for the last files.

At this point you can now test to see if you have done everything correctly thus far. Simply make the top showcase the artwork one and choose the pictures on the side in the right order. If done right it will line up perfectly.

Important note, if you're using Short Images:Once done with the above steps you will have to like or comment on the biggest picture to make the next showcase line up right. If not done the bottom showcase will be too high if you used my template before.

Uploading to the screenshot showcase

This is arguably the hardest step in the whole process as screenshots are not meant to be custom images in foreign sizes. There are multiple ways to upload to screenshot so I have listed two below.

Method 1The simpler of the two is as follows. You will need to open any game in Steam (preferably a non-Steam game, you will see why soon) and take four screenshots. Exit out of the game but do not upload the screenshots (keep the uploader open), go to the screenshot folder which can be found under Steam\userdata\[Random number here]\760\remote\[game ID]\screenshots, and you will the four shots you took or downloaded from the site. Copy the names of the four images and paste those names onto the four images you want to upload. Replace all four of the screenshots with images you cropped early. After that take the images again and copy them with the same name as the screenshots folder and copy into the thumbnails folder. Finally go back to the screenshot uploader and upload the four screenshots, they may look like the original four but do not worry as they will be the cropped images you switched in.

Method 2Much like the first as you are only moving around files but this time you are not required to open up a game but instead must restart the steam client. The process has not changed much, simply go to Steam\userdata\[Random number here]\760\remote\ to start, from here you need to create or find a game ID (it is in the url of a games store page) for example 440 is the ID for TF2 and make a folder with the number. You will need an ID for a game you own (you must play a free to play game once to "own" it), after you create a folder with the number simple create a folder called screenshots and inside that create another one called thumbnails. Now all you need to do is take the files you made before and paste them twice, one into screenshots and once into thumbnails, after that just restart the steam client. Last step is just open the screenshot upload, go to the game you put the files under and upload them.

You are done now, all the uploading is completed and you can setup the showcase if you want (which you do). Everything that is needed to be done is now completed so enjoy your hard work in your fancy new profile.

Gifs as screenshots

While normally uploading a .gif or any other format other than .jpg to screenshots is impossible there is a way to get around this and do it anyway. The guide below lists all the steps required to do so and was graciously provided by Curse Broken. This method can also be used as a replaced for the steps above if you wish to do so as you might find it easier.https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=693118839

Notes

I can not stress how important it is to comment or like the top center picture in the showcase, my template accounts for this and if not done it will just look misaligned on your profile.

Remember that you are required to be level 10 to even start using this guide, level 20 for maximum potential. This is just because of how steam levels work and how you get a single showcase per 10 levels.

I figured out the max size of the showcase slots before but thought others might enjoy playing with it. You can do a lot more with the template than what I showed. Try ideas out and show them off, this is just the starting point.

This guide is in the TF2 guide section as Steam does not have a general section for guides but only game specific ones. TF2 was as good as any other choice so I went with it.